Home and community support sector Standard

STANDARDS NEW ZEALAND MEDIA RELEASE

Home and community support sector Standard – draft Standard available for comment

The draft Home and community support sector Standard DZ 8158 (a revision of NZS 8158:2003) is available for public comment until 4 November 2011. The revision of NZS 8158 was driven by a desire to continually improve the quality of home support services. Since NZS 8158 was first published in 2003 there have been considerable changes in home support services and how they are provided. Home and community staff and agencies now perform more complex tasks and carry a higher degree of expertise and responsibility.

The revised Standard aims to ensure that people who face challenges to full participation in everyday life receive good quality support in their home and community to maintain or increase their independence, live in their own home, participate in their communities, and fulfil the roles they value.

A principles-based approach informed the revision of the Standard. The key principles underpinning the Standard include:

• working in partnership with people, and their families, and whānau
• respecting that both people receiving support, and service providers, have rights and responsibilities
• respecting people's dignity, autonomy, and privacy in their own homes
• recognising and responding to people's cultural identity
• supporting people to make decisions about their own lives
• maximising the flexibility, choice, and control people have over the support they receive to meet their agreed outcomes.
Download DZ 8158 for free from our website.
Related Touchstone articles
• Review of home and community support sector Standard, March 2011
• Revised Health and disability services Standards – available now, December 2008
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